What is a Region? Janet is a typical junior at OU. Her advisor suggested that she take a course called Urban Economics. She has had some exposure to economics and understands that economics concerns the allocation of scarce resources in the presence of unlimited wants. However, she was not sure Urban economics was about. She was interested in taking a course that dealt with real world places and data, not the usual abstract theoretical approach taught in most undergraduate economics classes. She guessed that a course called comparative economics would entail a comparison of economies of different regions or countries. Was this different than urban economics? To investigate the issue, Janet went to the university bookstore to browse through the textbook to be used in the course. The text seemed to deal with a lot of theory like typical economics courses, yet she could see the potential to apply these theories to real places and problems. Janet decided to give the course a try. After attending the first lecture, she learned that both regional and urban economics concerned the study of the distribution of economic activity over space. However, whereas regional economics focuses on subnational areas in general, urban economics focuses on areas around and within cities. She also discovered that the breadth of topics in urban and regional economics overlapped both micro and macro economics as well as other disciplines like geography, sociology and planning.

Janet now understood that the course was based on methods and theory of regional and urban analysis. However, she was perplexed; What exactly is an urban area? How do we divide areas within an urban area? She had met people at OU from Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Norman. She had also heard of area references in her own life; "downtown," "uptown," "suburbs," and "metropolitan". These terms were somewhat ambiguous. The text refers to specific areas, and general areas like market areas and neighborhoods, but many of its examples did not follow county or city boundaries. Furthermore, some officially defined areas like Oklahoma City seemed to be drawn haphazardly. If Janet was to spend the next 15 weeks studying urban economics, she must start with at least an understanding of the concept around which the entire course was structured.

Janet was anxious to know what an urban area was, and how economists and government agencies arrive at area breakdowns. Anticipating this question, and seeking to encourage student participation, the instructor decided to have students think about the question- how do we divide space around and within cities? Students were given homework assignment #1 and asked to complete it before the beginning of the next class.

Feedback 1 After doing her homework assignment Janet had a better idea of what a region was. She also realized that regions existed at different scales and that cities could be divided into regions (downtown, suburbs, business districts, wealthy neighborhoods, etc.), states could be divided into regions (New England, Great Lakes, etc.) as well as nations, continents, and the world. The first step in regional analysis is always the identification of the regional scale to use. The homework and discussion produced some of the following characteristics of a region: A. An area of the earth's surface with significant unifying characteristics which differentiates it from surrounding

areas B. Recognizable and coherent segment of space C. Defined by criteria D. A mental construct E. Core Area - perfect example of criteria F. Periphery - farther from core area where criteria becomes less noticeable G. Boundary - usually an arbitrary line periphery areas dividing regions H. An area of similar characteristics (physical and human)

The exercise and discussion also highlights the following reasons why areas of the world could and possibly should be divided into subregions for examination and study: A. Organize B. Simplify - from the complex for educational purposes C. Understand - the whole by understanding the parts D. Parts differ E. Examine common features F. Historical sectionalism and current political regionalism

Since the essence of regional economics and the study of regions utilizes the definition of the region itself. How can regions be defined? The answer was apparent to Janet; regions are defined by certain criteria. Criteria may include elements of physical or human landscape which separate one region from another. Class Discussion: What are some possible criteria for dividing regions of the world? Make a list. continental position tourism religion topography soils climate dairy farming food accent ethnic groups language animal life steel industry legislative subdivision rural educational level coastal position urban transportation system settlement pattern time zones air quality/pollution settlement history altitude age of population grain production music cultural attractions cotton production voting behavior house types employment structure political boundaries ideological leanings life style wildlife political parties historical background geology (rock types) architecture clothing styles land use drainage (basin) standard of living surface hydrology growing season natural resources population/density land ownership natural vegetation temperature regimes life expectancy auto manufacturing racial composition

Instruction The variety of ways to divide areas creates its own problem. It would be difficult to use so many categories for a quick analysis of an area. Are there certain criteria which are best for defining regions in the United States? Choose the most important criteria and give your reason why the first item is most important. 1._____________________ reason for choosing item #1.

Feedback The group had a difficult time choosing even two universally important criteria. One individual though it was climate that was the powerful influencing characteristics. However, some places with the same climate (i.e. the Mediterranean climate in California and the northern portion of the Mexican province of Baja) have very different characteristics and culture (as well as political boundaries). What about language? Surely this is an important factor in recognizing say French Canada and the Spanish South West, but does this help in understanding the differences between rural Texas and the city of San Francisco? We see the same problem with race. Is the inner city of Chicago similar to rural south? Also note problems of using Census Regions cited by Jackson, et at.

Class Discussion: Take the original extensive list plus feedback and categorize items in to several general categories and give at least three good examples of the specific criteria list under each category.

General Categories Physical Geography or site factors climate, soil, topography Relative Position or situational factors distance to ocean, transport lines, or population center Cultural Factors language, religion, education, food Population/Demographic Characteristics population density, racial composition, age structure Economic Activities income, industrial activities, agricultural specialization Amenity/Environmental Features recreational opportunities, water, mountains, clean air

Historical Background political boundaries, time of development, wars

Blair describes three types of economic regions. What are these and how do they match the classifications above? See also the short reading by Symanski and Newman in readings binder. 1. Functional Regions degree to which component parts interact. A nodal region based on hierarchical system of trade relationships activity is concentrated around a foci CBD, suburb, hinterland (market radius for city) MSA is statistical construct of nodal region advantages: - most data are in this form (MSA) - meets definition of labor market (economic basis) disadvantages: - does not necessarily contiguous - hard to draw boundaries 2. Homogeneous Regions (formal) based on internal similarity relationship to other parts of economy over ride their differences often treated as nonspatial within inter-regional macro econ corn, bible, rust, sun, snow belt, Appalachia(?) advantages: - contiguous disadvantages: - hard to draw boundaries 3. Administrative Regions (programming or planning) for managerial and administrative purposes, unity for policy instruments (not mutually exclusive of other types regions) advantages: - easy to get data and evaluate policy - easy to draw boundaries, contiguous usually disadvantages: - may overlap economic regions & interdependence

US Census Bureau Definitions Defining Urban and Rural Areas: For the 1990 census, "Urban" is defined as comprising all territory, population, and housing units in - urbanized areas, and - places of 2,500 or more persons outside urbanized areas. More specifically urban areas as comprising all territory, population, and housing units

- in places of 2,500 or more persons incorporated as cities, villages, boroughs (except in Alaska and New York), and towns (except in the six New England States, New York, and Wisconsin), but excluding the rural portions of "extended cities," - in census designated places of 2,500 or more, or - in other territory, incorporated or unincorporated, included in urbanized areas

Territory, population, and housing units not classified as "urban" constitute "rural" areas. Urbanized Area (UA) The Census Bureau delineates urbanized areas (UA's) to provide a better separation of urban and rural territory, population, and housing in the vicinity of large places. It comprises - One or more places ("central place") and the adjacent densely settled surrounding territory ("urban fringe") that together have a minimum of 50,000 persons. "Urban fringe" - consists of contiguous territory having a density of at least 1,000 persons per square mile.

- also includes outlying territory of such density if it was connected to the core of the contiguous area by road and is within 1 1/2 road miles of that core, or within 5 road miles of the core but separated by water or other undevelopable territory. -Other territory with a population density of fewer than 1,000 people per square mile is included in the urban fringe if it eliminates an enclave or closes an indentation in the boundary of the urbanized area. The population density is determined by (1) outside of a place, one or more contiguous census blocks with a population density of at least 1,000 persons per square mile or (2) inclusion of a place containing census blocks that have at least 50 percent of the population of the place and a density of at least 1,000 persons per square mile.

Limitations of the definitions of "urban" and "rural" areas 1. The category of "rural" is a residual category based on whatever population happens to be left over after "urban" areas have been defined. Because this is a residual category, it does not effectively represent the diversity present in non-urban areas. 2. The definition of "rural" areas is aspatial because it does not indicate proximity to urban areas or reflect the relationship between the urban areas and the rural territory surrounding it. 3. The definitions of "urban" and "rural" areas are dichotomous. Many of the characteristics that define rural areas exist along a continuum. This dichotomous definition does not reflect the economic and demographic diversity of both urban and rural counties. 4. This classification system cuts across other hierarchies; for example, metropolitan areas can include counties that contain a large amount of "rural" population, and "non-metropolitan" counties can include a large amount of "urban" population. Furthermore, many smaller urban areas are outside of metropolitan areas. For more information: http://www.census.gov/td/stf3/append_a.html#URBAN_AND_RURAL

OTHER CENSUS REGIONS AND DEFINITIONS: Geographic regions (4) and geographic divisions (9) Northeast = New England, Mid Atlantic South = West S Central, E S Central, S Atlantic Midwest = W N Central, E N Central West = Pacific, Mountain States are the major politcal units of the US (DC is state equivalent) (51) Counties- primary divisions of states which are basic building blocks of MAs (3141) Also county equivalents which are independent cities in VA Metropolitan Area- large population nucleus with adjacent communties which have a high degree of economic and social integration (253) 1 if it includes a city of at least 50,000 people or, 2. if it includes a Census-Bureau defined urbanized area of at least 50,000 with a total MA population of at least 100,000 (75,000 in New Eng) - may have more than once city of 50,000 population - may cross state state lines Central city- city with largest MSA population Outlying counties- based on 2 variable criteria - % of employed commute to cc and - population density (persons/sq mile) Consolidated MSAs- metro complexes of one million or more pop (18) Primary MSAs are redefined component MSAs e.g. Pittsburgh+Beaver Valley MSAs ==>CMSA Example: MSA (4 digit code) Component Counties (5 digit FIPS code) OKC, OK (5920) = Canadian (40017) Cleveland (40027) Logan (40083)

McClain (40087) Oklahoma (40109) Pottawtomie (40125) Note: - does not include all contiguous counties (Kingfisher, Lincoln) - includes a county that isn't contiguous (McClain Enid, OK (2340) = Garfield County (40047) Lawton, OK (4200) = Comanche County (40031)

URBAN-RURAL Typology Given the shortcomings of both the urban/rural and metro/nonmetro terminology, we would like to another option. Urban/rural doesn't match up with established administrative regions (counties) and Metro/nonmetro allows for too much diversity within regions since it fits entire counties. Also it is aspatial so we don't know if a nonmetro place is close to an urban area or not. We would really to like combine the definitions to end up with something that is more informative. An alternative is the Urban-rural continuum codes for metro and non-metro counties by the US Department of Agriculture. This is done at the county level as follows: Metropolitan County Codes 00 Central counties of metro areas of 1 million or more 01 Fringe counties of metro areas of 1 million or more 02 Counties in metro areas of 250,000 - 1,000,000 population 03 Counties in metro areas of < 250,000 population Non Metropolitan County Codes 04 Urban population of 20,000 or more, adjacent to metro area 05 Urban population of 20,000 or more, not adjacent to metro area 06 Urban population of 2,500 - 19,999, adjacent to metro area 07 Urban population of 2,500 - 19,999, not adjacent to metro area 08 Completely rural (no places of 2,500 or more), adjacent to metro area 09 Completely rural (no places of 2,500 or more), not adjacent to metro area

Some Real World Data Metropolitan, and Urban Population, 1990 (Table No. 44. and No. 39.)

URBAN METRO

US total Pop 248,710 187,053 197,893 % of US Pop 100% 75.2% 79.5% OK 67.6% 60.2 NY 84.3% 91.7 Source: 1992 Statistical Abstract of the US

1. Why doesn’t urban=Metro population? (Think about county level aggregation for MSAs which is not required for UAs) 2. Why is OK more Urban than Metro? (vs. the case for US) Metropolitanization of US States (% pop in Metro areas in 1994)

Most Least Other

CA (96.7) VT (27.2) NY (91.7) MA (96.1) WY (29.8) CT (95.7)

Biggest and Smallest Cities With Population>= 100,00 in 1992

92 POP 90-92 Land area

Rank City (1,000s) % Ch (sq miles) 1. New York 7,312 -0.1 309.0 2. Los Angeles 3,490 0.1 469.3 3. Chicago 2,768 -0.5 227.2 4. Houston 1,690 3.7 539.9 5. Piladelphia 1,553 -2.1 135.1

195. Waco, TX 104 0.4 75.8 196. Simi, CA 104 3.6 33.0 197. Livonia, MI 101 0.5 35.7 198. Berkeley, CA 101 -1.6 10.5 199. Green Bay, WI 100 4.1 43.8 200. Charlotte, NC 100 10.6 47.6

Relationship between size and growth? Relationship between population size and land area of cities? Common features of biggest cities?

Now we know that there are various ways to delineate regions. What regions do we use for regional analysis? What considerations are important for selecting scale and type of region? Is the time frame of analysis important? Feedback: In theoretical models it is easy to use any scale for determining regions. The delineation of regions is determined by the nature of the question or policy to be analyzed. If one is studying metropolitan poverty or rural poverty then typical census metropolitan/nonmetropolitan characteristics can be used. However, if an analyst wants to study labor markets, such as the availability of labor to a particular location, then it is most appropriate to use labor market areas such as commuting patterns of workers. It is also to identify how many regions to use (10 or 100), or the rough scale. It is much more difficult to deal with 100 regions than 10, but using 100 gives more spatial differentiation. (see Appalachia example here.) In quantitative analysis the regions that are chosen are often limited by the availability of data. For instance, export data is not available by state of production, but only by port (of origin) state. Thus, it is nearly impossible to trace exports for interior states such as Pennsylvania since products are exported from coastal states such as New York. Similarly, one might want to study the relocation of individuals within a metropolitan area say from a particular inner-city neighborhood to a particular suburban neighborhood. However, migration data is difficult to get at a level lower than the county level, though population is available at the census tract (neighborhood) level. Another problem in regional analysis is the time frame of interest. Census data, though very comprehensive, are only available at ten year intervals. This limits the ability to do time series analysis or even perform local economic development analysis during non-census years.

Instruction: Safe statements about defining a region...(Richardson, Regional Growth Theory) 1. There is no unique definition 2. We may define a region in different ways depending on object of inquiry in regional economics a region is a sub-national aerial unit in international economics a region might be a group of nations 3. An inter-regional system is frequently defined as a subdivision of the nation to a limited number of units What is the difference between a region and a nation? Is there anything distinctive about sub-national vs. national and supra-national units?

Why should we look at a break below the national level in the hierarchy of spatial units (global, supra-national, national, regional, metro)?

1. Openness of the economy - higher proportion of exports/imports to a region than to nation (degree) - no tariffs, easy migration, common money units, lack of barriers (kind) - more difficult to track interregional flows since they are unrecorded 2. Policy objectives/goals - economic stabilization at national level (not at regional level) - regional goals are often long-run (growth development) - national goals are often short-run (stabilization, interest rates) 3. Policy instruments available - region is more limited: no tariffs, monetary policy, etc. - more competition from other regions: e.g. tax differences, subsidies Conclusion: We can’t just use macro & international trade models; Regional models are needed because: - can’t treat as closed system - need to specify key exogenous variables - closer attention to disequilibrating process vs. finding equilibrium - more attention to spatial dimensions (not national unemployment rate) Policy Implication: There is a closer link between public policy and economic growth at regional level despite the fact that regional policy instruments are more limited.